The described aspects relate to caller identification systems, and more particularly, to systems and methods for on demand customization of a caller identification.
Caller identification, otherwise referred to as caller ID, was first invented in the early 1980's and became widely commercially available in the 1990's. Today, caller ID is available to both wired (i.e., landline) and wireless communication devices.
In conventional caller ID, the service provider, such as a telephone company, implements a Frequency Key Shift (FSK) technique to send ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) character data intertwined with the ring signal data. A modem within the call receiving device decodes the bits in the call transmission, such as the ring signal and the caller ID information. The caller ID information may include the calling device identification number (i.e., the calling device telephone number) and, in some applications, the name of the user associated with the calling device telephone number.
In contrast, in a wireless communication device, caller ID is implemented by matching the received over the air phone number with entries in the device's phonebook or contact listings. If a match in the phonebook or contact list is found, then the name associated with the phone number is displayed on the wireless device.
However, in both the conventional caller ID service and in the wireless communication caller ID system, caller identification is limited to identifying the caller typically associated with the phone number. For example, conventional caller ID identifies the party registered with the service provider as the “owner” of the telephone number or the party associated with the telephone number within the receiving device's phone book or contact list. As such, known caller ID systems do not accommodate the situation in which the actual caller is someone other than the party registered with the service provider or the party associated with the telephone number within the receiving device's phone book or contact list.
For example, in the situation in which a telephone, wired or wireless, is borrowed by someone who needs to place a call, a wireless device receiving the call will typically display only the calling telephone number because the phone number will likely not exist in the receiving device's phone book in association with a name. Likewise, if the receiving device is a wired communication device, the caller ID function may provide for display of data that indicates the name of the party associated with the phone number, but not the name of the actual caller.
Thus, a problem arises in that the receiving party does not recognize the displayed telephone number and/or the name of the party associated with the telephone number, and therefore the receiving party may choose to ignore the call. In many instances, this problem may be exasperated when someone is borrowing a telephone to place a call, where the call is of the utmost importance and being able to immediately communicate with the called party is critical.
Additionally, current caller ID systems do not provide for prioritizing the importance of a call to insure that the receiving party answers the call. Such prioritization of communications is commonplace in other forms of communication, such as electronic mail, which uses red flags or exclamation points to signify that a message is high priority. In this regard, prioritization may be desired to highlight the importance of the communications to the recipient. In the land-line telephone hypothetical, a receiving party who is burdened during the workday with frequent calls may routinely choose to ignore such calls and opt to have the caller leave voicemail. However, if the caller is provided with a means for signaling to the receiving party that the importance of the call warrants high priority, then the receiving party may be more prone to answer the call immediately in view of such signaling.
However, in both the situation in which the calling party wishes to customize the caller ID information so as to insure that the called party knows the callers identity, and in the situation in which the calling party wishes to prioritize a call to insure that the called party answers the call, it may be desirable to insure that non-authorized callers, such as scammers, telemarketers or the like, do not have access to customizing their caller ID information or prioritizing their calls. Security in this regard may be useful to insure that scammers do not dupe the receiving party into believing that they are a known party or an important caller based on unreliable information.
Thus, a need exists for methods and systems that provide for customized caller identification. The customization aspect of the system may provide for the calling party to override the standard caller ID information associated with the calling communication device. In addition, customization may provide for the calling party to prioritize calls for the purpose of alerting the receiving party that a call has heightened importance.